Nestable container

ABSTRACT

A container having means to prevent binding and rotation and provide positive engagement with adjacent nested containers. The bottom section of each container includes an upwardly offset center portion having teeth spaced around the top circumference inside each container. A corresponding set of teeth is provided around the bottom circumference of the center portion on the outer surface. When stacked, or nested, the bottom teeth of each container engage the top teeth of the container immediately below providing positive engagement without binding or rotation.

United States Patent [1 1 [45] May 1 19 3 Rest [54] NESTABLE CONTAINER[75] Inventor: Karl H. Rost, Siegburg, Germany [73] Assignee: RoslinC0rp., Palm Beach, Fla.

[22] Filed: Feb. 16, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 115,440

[52] US. Cl ..220/97 C, 220/97 [51] Int. Cl. ..B6Sd 21/02 [58] Field ofSearch ..220/97 C, 97 F;

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,347,411 10/1967 Kalata..229/1.5 B 3,362,575 1/1968 Fotos ..220/97 F 3,131,845 5/1964Sher1ock.... ..220/97 C 2,235,502 3/1941 Leppke ..220/97 F FOREIGNPATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 667,023 1 1/1965 Belgium ..229/l.5 B

Primary Examiner-George E. Lowrance Attorney-Clarence A. OBrien andHarvey B. Jacobson [5 7] ABSTRACT A container having means to preventbinding and rotation and provide positive engagement with adjacentnested containers. The bottom section of each container includes anupwardly offset center portion having teeth spaced around the topcircumference inside each container. A corresponding set of teeth isprovided around the bottom circumference of the center portion on theouter surface. When stacked, or nested, the bottom teeth of eachcontainer engage the top teeth of the container immediately belowproviding positive engagement without binding or rotation.

2 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures NESTABLE CONTAINER The present inventionrelates to a one-piece container which may be conveniently stacked withlike containers without damage or binding between the surfaces.

Previously, thin wall disposable plastic containers have been subject tobinding and sticking when stacked or nested together. The larger thenumber of containers in each stack the greater the weight on the lowercontainers and thus the increased chance of binding. This most oftenresults due to wedging effect by the side surfaces of one containeragainst the lower container making it inconvenient to remove containersfrom the stack. In addition to binding, the engagement of adjacent sidesurfaces of conventional containers may result in undesirablescratching, particularly when the containers are rotated 'with respectto each other. Several attempts have been made to solve these problems.Such designs, however, have been unsuccessful, resulting in containerswhich are uncomfortable to hold and are more susceptible to tipping whenset down.

It is an object of the present invention to provide containers which canbe nested or stacked on top of each other, yet will not bind whenremoved from the stack.

It is a further object to provide a container which will not rotate withrespect to the adjacent nested containers, thus preventing scratching.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a containerwhich can be economically produced in a single piece and stacked withlike containers, yet attractive in design, of reasonable strength,comfortable to hold in the hand, and not susceptible to tipping when setdown.

It is a further object of this invention to provide containers which canbe nested in large numbers with positive engagement and interlocking ofthe bottom portions of each container with very limited or no engagementof the side surfaces of adjacent containers, thus preventing scratchingand damage as well as binding.

These together with other objects and advantages which will becomesubsequently apparent reside in the details of construction andoperation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, whereinlike numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the present container device.

FIG. 2 is a top view looking through the open end of the containerdevice shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the container device shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the vertical plane ofa pair ofcontainers nested together.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged sectional view illustrating the .interlockingsurfaces of the pair of nested containers shown in FIG. 4.

Referring to the figures and more particularly to FIG. 1 thereof, thepresent interlocking container is indicated generally by numeral 10,and, preferably, is formed from a single piece of plastic in a way wellknown in the art. Thus the preferred embodiment is a one-piece, thinwalled, disposable plastic container. It is comprised of a side wallstructure 11 having an outer surface 12 and inner surface 13 and beinggenerally frustoconical in shape, widening towards the opening at thetop of the container. The vertical surface may be curved outwardlyslightly as shown, if desired, to pro-. vide added strength andattractive appearance. It is not, however, essential that the verticalsurface be curved, a pure frusto-conical surface or tapered variationsthereof being within the scope of the present invention, so long as thegeometry permits the interlocking and nesting as hereinafter described.

The container further includes a bottom portion, generally indicated by14, having a substantially flat ring-shaped bottom surface 16 which issuitable for supporting the container in a stable position. The relativewidth of surface 16 may be greater or less than that illustrateddependent upon conditions and resting surfaces anticipated in thecontainers use. The greater the surface area 16, the greater will be thefrictional resistance to sliding and the ability to rest on unevensurfaces. An indentation or offset portion 18 is formed in the center ofthe bottom portion and is substantially frusto-conical in shape having acentral wall structure 20 which extends from opening 21 to a round uppermember 22 thereby forming a sealed bottom in the container. The wall 20may be sloped upwardly and inwardly as shown or it may be vertical orslightly offset from the vertical so long as the geometry permitsnesting of the containers as hereinafter explained.

Referring to FIG. 4, it will be appreciated that the containers may bestacked or nested one inside of the other. The upper container 24engages the lower container 26 at the circular tooth engaging area 28 inthe bottom portions of each container. The side walls 1 l of eachcontainer are shaped in such a way that they will not engage each otherwhen the containers are properly aligned with each other in the nestedposition. Thus, there is a space or gap 29 between the top edge of lowercontainer 26 and the outer surface 12 of container 24. This gap isring-shaped when the containers are in perfect alignment. It ispossible, that as the number of containers in a stack is increased, thestack may tend to lean to one side or another due to the unlevel surfaceupon which the containers are resting or to the inherent resiliency ofthe containers themselves. Under such conditions, the top edges of eachcontainer may engage the outer surface of the adjacent container over arelatively small area. When such does occur, the gap 29 is increased onthe diametrically opposite side of each container thus maintaining aconstant air space communicating with the interior 30 of the lowercontainer. Such a configuration prevents the containers from becomingair locked with one another, wherein the air space of the lowercontainer is sealed from atmosphere by the engagement of the uppersurfaces when nested together. Air locking creates a vacuum between thetwo containers making removal of containers more difficult, since theytend to stick together. It will be appreciated that in the presentinvention the air space 30 of the lower container 26 is never sealedfrom the surrounding atmosphere even in the condition where the stackmay lean to one side or another. Accordingly, the disclosed nestablecontainer is not susceptible to sticking due to air locking orengagement of the side surfaces.

Each offset portion 18 includes two sets of teeth 32 and 34 spacedcircumferentially around the upper andlower'edges of the wall 20 to forma pair of circular serrated edges. The male teeth 32 are preferablyformed at .small angles to the vertical axis of the container while thefemale teeth 34 are formed at slightly greater angles to the verticalaxis. Such a geometric configuration provides a set of positivelyinterlocking teeth wherein alignment is aided by the offset surfaces 36and 38 which slide over each other during the process of engagement. Itis appreciated that since upper member 22 of the offset portion isrelatively small in width and rigidly supported by wall 20, teeth 32 and34 remain relatively rigid with respect to one another and are lesslikely to flex or bind as would the larger and more remote side walls11. In addition, the serrated edges prevent relative rotation of thenested containers, thereby avoiding scratching of outer surfaces 12 bythe top edge of each container should limited contactoccur ashereinbefore explained.

It should be noted that slight variations in the configu'rations of theteeth forming the serrated edges are within the scope of the presentinvention. It is preferred, but not essential, that surfaces 36 and 38be offset slightly as shown. Other teeth configurations, well known inthe art, could likewise be used to achieve the interlocking result.Furthermore, the serrated edges on each container may be placed atslightly different locations on the container from that shown so long asthey remain rigid with respect to each other and prevent binding.

It will be appreciated from the foregoing that a container has beenprovided which may be nested in large numbers without binding to eachother. Furthermore, engagement of the outer surfaces has been limited,and rotation eliminated, thereby preventing scratching and possiblecracking. It should be noted that, in the preferred embodiment, eachcontainer is made from a thin sheet of plastic by methods well known inthe art, thus providing a one-piece disposable container which iseconomical to produce. it will be appreciated that the container of thepresent invention could be manufactured in a variety of ways or withseveral pieces and different materials if so desired.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles ofthe invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes willreadily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limitthe invention to the exact construction and operation shown anddescribed, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalentsmay be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. A nestable container comprising a bottom portion, a side wallstructure extending upwardly and outwardly from said bottom portion,said bottom portion including means for aligning the container in nestedposition with a similar container for preventing rotation therebetween,said means including an upwardly offset center portion comprising anopening, a central wall structure extending upwardly from said openingand an upper member connected to said wall to seal the bottom of thecontainer, a male serrated edge including a plurality of male teethextending around the perimeter of said central wall portion and disposedin the interior of the container, and a female serrated edge including aplurality of female teeth extending around the perimeter of said centralwall structure beneath said male teeth and being disposed on theexterior of the container.

2. The nestable container set forth in claim 1 wherein each of said maleand female teeth includes a plurality of upwardly extending male andfemale surfaces, each of said female surfaces being offset at an angleto each of said male surfaces with respect to the vertical axis of thecontainer.

1. A nestable container comprising a bottom portion, a side wallstructure extending upwardly and outwardly from said bottom portion,said bottom portion including means for aligning the container in nestedposition with a similar container for preventing rotation therebetween,said means including an upwardly offset center portion comprising anopening, a central wall structure extending upwardly from said openingand an upper member connected to said wall to seal the bottom of thecontainer, a male serrated edge including a plurality of male teethextending around the perimeter of said central wall portion and disposedin the interior of the container, and a female serrated edge including aplurality of female teeth extending around the perimeter of said centralwall structure beneath said male teeth and being disposed on theexterior of the container.
 2. The nestable container set forth in claim1 wherein each of said male and female teeth includes a plurality ofupwardly extending male and female surfaces, each of said femalesurfaces being offset at an angle to each of said male surfaces withrespect to the vertical axis of the container.